I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. At the outset I offer my sincere condolences to the young man who was brutally stabbed at the weekend. I must make it clear, and An Garda Síochána has made it very clear in its actions to date, that whoever is responsible for this will be held accountable and will be brought to justice. I acknowledge also the serious incident that occurred last weekend. It is absolutely this Government's intention and priority, and has always been the case, that people feel safe and that they are safe in their homes and on their streets. It is for that very reason as a former Minister for Justice I increased the budget for An Garda Síochána by half a billion euro. It is for that very reason my number one priority and the number one priority for this Government and the current Minister is to make sure the number of gardaí we have on our streets, in our towns and in our cities continues to increase. That number is steadily rising for our capital city. More than 50% of our new recruits have consistently gone to Dublin city centre and the surrounding areas. That is why as the Minister for Justice I introduced body cameras for the first time in our city centre to make sure gardaí are equipped to respond to the many challenges we face, not just in Dublin but across the country. That is why our current Minister is committed to making sure gardaí have other technologies and equipment available to them, such as facial recognition technology, so they can respond to incidents. When it comes to knife crime this is an issue that I and that every person in this Government and beyond takes extremely seriously. This is why, when Minister, I increased the penalty for those who are found not just carrying a knife and in possession of a knife but also those who threaten to use a knife and of course those who use a knife, reflecting the severity of this crime. The number of confiscations by gardaí and the number of seizures have increased significantly in recent years. The police powers Bill referenced by the Deputy, which I instigated in the Department and which has been followed through, will make sure gardaí have even greater powers available to them to respond to these crimes. Of course there are challenges in our capital city and I have never shied away from that, but I believe we all recognise that it is not just the role of our Garda to make sure people are safe. This is why two things have to progress. One is the community safety partnerships, which look at community safety from a whole-of-community perspective, and the second is making sure our gardaí are working with our local authorities, our community groups, our young people, educators, housing sector and so much beyond in order that they come together and deliver a plan for their areas. That includes Dublin city centre and our capital. That is why our task force, which was led by our current Tánaiste and former Taoiseach, set out very clearly that there were a number of things we need to do now. While we must continue to increase the number of gardaí in our city centre, which is happening, we need to look at issues like dereliction and street lighting, the concentration of services in our city centre, who is accommodated in our city centre and how that is developed. We also need to work collectively to respond to the challenges that exist, and I am absolutely committed, as is this Government, to making sure we all play our part in responding to those challenges. I assure the Deputy that when it comes to safety, ensuring people are safe and that they feel safe in their cities, homes and on our streets is a number one priority for this Government. The Deputy will note and see in all of the actions outlined in the programme for Government, which was agreed by all parties on this side of the House, that more measures will be taken, not just to introduce tougher laws, as has been the case to date, but to ensure recruitment continues to increase, whether that be through increasing the training allowance available to our gardaí to encourage more, making sure we have greater availability for gardaí to train and not just in Templemore, making sure we look to expand our force to make sure it is as diverse as possible so it reflects the communities gardaí are supporting, or making sure we do everything possible to support the Garda in its work. I acknowledge the substantial work our gardaí do day in and day out in making sure they keep the people of this country safe.

Sentiment score: 0.39

For the second time, I will repeat it for the people in the back who may not have heard my response to all Deputy Doherty's three questions. The Deputy might repeat what I have actually said over the past number of years. There are absolutely problems in our city centre and in every part of our country that we need to address. By addressing those, we can ensure every person is safe and feels safe in our towns, homes and villages. I have always said there are challenges. I have outlined all the things I have done and that our new, current Minister for Justice will do with the support of the Government to achieve those overall objectives. I introduced laws specifically recognising the fact that there is a significant problem when a young person decides to carry a knife or when a young person or any person thinks it is appropriate to carry a knife. That is why increasing sentencing was a priority for the previous Government and why making sure gardaí have as power much as possible to ascertain those knives is an absolute priority. On the final point, we are making progress and seeing more gardaí. I have said we need to go beyond 15,000 gardaí. In fact, we have a higher target than we set initially.

Sentiment score: 0.15

I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue. I said when I was appointed to this role that my number one objective and goal was to make sure every young person - irrespective of their background, where they come from or what school they go to - is supported, and that our teachers are resourced and supported to help them achieve their full ability. That is my number one goal and priority. That means making sure children with special educational needs get the resources, supports and access to education they are entitled to - more special schools, additional classes, SNAs, training and support. That means for children from disadvantaged backgrounds that we build on and expand the positive and fantastic work of DEIS programmes and make sure, working with our youth partners, every young person has the supports needed to fulfil their potential. Bringing all of that together, we have to make sure that, irrespective of who the child is and their background, they are equipped to respond to the world we live in today. That is paramount. We need to make sure young people leaving school are equipped with the skills and ability to live in, work in and respond to the world we live in now, which has changed completely. The economy and the jobs we work in have changed. Technology has taken over so much of what we do in a positive way, yet there are challenges as well. It is important that State exams reflect all this and equip and support our young people to go into the world we live in. Official engagement on senior cycle reform started in 2016. I appreciate the different stages have more recently come to the fore but official engagement started in 2016. It is important we get this right and engage with all stakeholders: principals, teachers, school leaders, boards of management and, above all, students. This year we are building on the work that has been done. We have the level 1 and 2 programme statements, which means that for the first time a senior cycle programme has been designed for students with specific educational needs. We have the new transition year programme statement, transition year programme auditing tools, governance portfolios and micromodules, which means for the first time 60,000 young people can avail of transition year. We want that to be available to every student. There is the vocation education training module as well, and a huge amount of work has been done in terms of consultation on the initial brief. Business, biology, chemistry, physics, Arabic, Latin and Ancient Greek constitute the first tranche that will come in this September. This will not be a quick turnaround or a quick change; it will not happen overnight. I want to ensure that, as this change happens and we have more additional assessment components and changes that test the various skills young people will need going into the world, it is done at a rate that helps young people and is supportive of our teachers. I know the Deputy and all the profession's objective is to ensure young people get the best education available to them.

Sentiment score: 0.40

I do and always will engage with our teachers because they are the only way this will happen and they provide our young people with the fantastic education they get. We have spent over €6 billion on capital projects since the beginning of 2020. I have said clearly to the unions that we will invest more, whether in science labs or in making sure more training is provided. I have asked my officials to engage further to see if there is more we can do to ensure we are prepared for the specific subjects for September and that teachers are prepared. I have made it clear two papers will be provided at the beginning of April; it is normally one. We are also making sure there is access to further training at the earliest stage possible. This will not happen overnight. I fully accept that, were it to move at a quicker pace, there would be a significant challenge. There is momentum there. A lot of change has happened. At the end of this, we want young people to be equipped to respond to the world we live in. The exams are a key part of making sure that can happen. This will only work by working with teachers and I am committed to doing that.

Sentiment score: 0.31

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. Similar to the delivery of our education system, the delivery of healthcare in this country can only happen with the support of fantastic people: from our consultants to our GPs to our nurses to our clinicians right across the system. That is why over recent years we have continued to significantly invest not just in our built infrastructure in the expansion of hospitals and bed places but also in the number of people we have working in our health system. It is now higher than it has ever been and the clear objective now, as has been set out very clearly by our Minister for Health this week, is to make sure that with the significant investment that has gone into our health system, the significant investment in and expansion of the number of people working in our service and with a very clear assessment plan through Sláintecare that we have all agreed to, we get the best positive outcomes for those who use our healthcare system, be it in our communities, in our primary care centres, for those who attend our emergency departments or those who attend for scheduled care. That is absolutely the intention of the new Minister for Health, and I commend her work at the early stages in identifying how we can make sure those resources are used in the most appropriate way, how and where there is really good practice taking place across our hospitals and across our communities, and how we can then replicate that, but doing so with our healthcare professionals and with our workers. As a Government, we will continue to invest in our healthcare system and we will continue to ensure our waiting lists are reducing. There was often a focus on how many people are on lists as opposed to the length of time people are on lists. We need to make sure we have as many people being seen as soon as possible and, where possible, those times reduce as well as the overall numbers. We need to make sure we continue to invest in our cancer care treatments and in other areas where we have seen significant progress. We are a country where people are living much longer and it is not by accident. It is because of the significant investment we are placing in our healthcare system, the advancement in technology, the expansion of overall services and the fact we are investing in new drugs, new technologies and new ways to treat people. In terms of the Deputy's specific question, the HSE, the head of the HSE and our Minister for Health will ensure every effort is made to work with those working in our health sector to be able to provide the best outcomes possible for the people who need the services and who use the services. We, as a Government, will continue to invest in the overall capital spend but, above all, make sure the money being spent is being spent wisely and we get the best possible outcomes from it.

Sentiment score: 0.54

It is absolutely the case that the HSE must, will and will always work within the relevant framework. That is absolutely the case. It is what we expect from the HSE and what we expect from those working in our public sector. Where issues and challenges arise, there are very clear frameworks and structures that must be adhered to and mechanisms which can be put in place to resolve any outstanding issues or disputes. We absolutely expect and insist, and it is the case, that the HSE works within any framework and works with those in our public sector and health sector and that is what this Government expects.

Sentiment score: 0.17

This Government has been very clear in stating that we need to invest more in our water system and that we need to do more to make sure towns, communities or villages which do not have access to the quality of water should get investment first and foremost. We must also ensure that sites are opened up and that in the delivery of housing in particular we have the investment and infrastructure needed to achieve the overall objectives, goals and targets we have set ourselves. For Uisce Éireann, we have set a very clear level of investment. There will be record levels invested in the period from 2021 to this year. There are commitments of almost €6 billion in capital investment, of which over €4.5 billion will be voted Exchequer funding for domestic water services. We are already starting to see the benefit of that. I look at my own constituency in County Meath where for many years we had significant problems with water quality in the towns of Ratoath and Ashbourne and surrounding areas. With €40 million of investment into a new water tower, that issue has been resolved and we are starting to see challenges and problems like that resolved right across the country. What have we said as a Government we will do? We will invest even further. We said very clearly with the review of the NDP which will happen earlier this year that there will be a particular focus on making sure we invest in our infrastructure which very clearly includes our water. We have said very clearly prior to the election and since then that a significant amount of the windfall tax receipts, and also the Apple money, will be spent on investment in our wastewater treatment. Regarding the storm and the response, I commend every person from the ESB, Uisce Éireann and beyond who responded to an unprecedented incident where we saw tens of thousands of people not just without electricity but also without water and power. What happened in response by Uisce Éireann was that almost 400,000 customers, through backup generation, had their service maintained. A huge amount of work was done to make sure that where possible we could maintain that service. For those who were out of service, it is now the case that service has been restored and it was restored as quickly as possible. What we are looking to do now in Uisce Éireann in particular is to increase the stock of mobile generators because we know these storms are not going to end. Uisce Éireann wants to increase them by an additional 100 generators which will be purchased immediately. On top of that, it is also accelerating its programme to make sites generator-ready. It is not possible to say we will have a generator on-site in every single area but we will ensure if it is needed that those sites are absolutely ready. I wish to compliment and respond to some of the Deputy's comments. We have quite a number of people working. There are about 3,500 people employed operating some 1,800 water and wastewater treatment plants; 4,100 pumping stations; 2,400 abstraction points; and reservoirs maintaining 90,000 km of pipeline. A huge amount of work is taking place by those in Uisce Éireann. We want to do more, we will do more and we are going to invest significantly so we can expand the infrastructure right across the country.

Sentiment score: 0.33

I will respond to both points. In relation to the storm, a committee has already been established on a permanent basis to make sure all Departments and relevant agencies are prepared should something like this happen again. As I have said, the likelihood of that is quite high. What is Uisce Éireann doing? It is purchasing more generators and making sure sites are generator-ready. It will do anything more it needs to do. Separate to that, we need more investment overall. The Government is saying very clearly that we need more investment in wastewater treatment. That will happen. We are saying very clearly with the review of the NDP that we will focus on infrastructure. With the money we are spending through Apple, we will focus on infrastructure with housing being our number one priority. One of the main things that will help to unlock many of the sites on which we want to build is making sure we have that infrastructure and that access to wastewater treatment and also, for the people who are already living in houses in their communities where there are problems, that we upgrade and invest as quickly as possible. That means money but also expanding on Uisce Éireann. There is a very clear commitment to expand the number of people working in Uisce Éireann, as I have mentioned, so that this work can be done as quickly as possible and those concerns can be addressed as quickly as possible.

Sentiment score: 0.23